Discontinued
Kfilm camera
Kodak Flash Bantam
Format
828, 28x40 mm
System
Kodak Bantam
Is Film
Yes
Shutter
1/25 to 1/200 plus B and T, flash synchronised; name NOT SOURCED
Metering
none
Research
Kodak AA-13; Kodak Bantam Special sales brochure form 7131 (PRC 01647); Kodak 1937 gift-line catalogue form 10.37 (PRC 03642); Kodak 1941 product catalogue (PRC 00167); Kodak Bantam, Bantam Special and Flash Bantam instruction books (cameramanuals.org); Pacific Rim dealer inventory transcribing engraved lens names.
Produced 1947–1953 · medium confidencehttps://www.pacificrimcamera.com/rl/01541/01541.pdfMARKET DATES from Kodak Customer Service Pamphlet AA-13, whose columns are headed 'ON THE MARKET FROM / TO' - NOT production dates, and no Kodak-published production date exists for this camera. See gear_items.kodak-flash-bantam spec_notes for the sourcing and any conflict.
Category: Film Camera
Format
828, 28x40 mm
System
Kodak Bantam
Shutter
1/25 to 1/200 plus B and T, flash synchronised; name NOT SOURCED
Metering
none
Spec Notes
Two dimensions from the Bantam f/4.5 - a new lens tier and a shutter that gains flash synchronisation. BOTH ENGRAVINGS ARE PHYSICALLY ATTESTED, which is the clearest evidence in this whole slice for the late-1940s rename being a rename: early examples read 'KODAK ANASTIGMAT SPECIAL 48/4.5' - Kodak's own manual M-142A prints 'KODAK ANASTIGMAT SPECIAL LENS' - and later ones 'KODAK ANASTAR 48/4.5', on four separate Pacific Rim items. Same focal length, same aperture, same four-element design. Folded as one generation. One secondary source dates the camera 1948-53 against AA-13's 1947; AA-13 is used. Weight and dimensions NOT SOURCED. DATING: the fitted lens carries Kodak's CAMEROSITY two-letter year prefix on its serial (C=1 A=2 M=3 E=4 R=5 O=6 S=7 I=8 T=9 Y=0), stamped on the ring securing the front group. This gives the LENS year, not the body's, and a swapped lens dates the wrong object - a documented hazard, one collector owning a Medalist I wearing a Medalist II lens. DATES ARE MARKET DATES, NOT PRODUCTION. Kodak's own AA-13 heads its columns 'ON THE MARKET FROM / TO', and no Kodak-published production date exists for any camera in this slice - every third-party 'production years' figure checked is a restatement of AA-13.
Fitted Lens
Kodak Anastigmat Special 48mm f/4.5, later engraved Kodak Anastar 48mm f/4.5
Rangefinder
No
Alternate Names
—
Introduced
1947
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